Insomnia
by yvaiine
Summary: Clint Barton is used to being in control. They all are. So when a surprising new recruit is brought aboard, The Avengers face the prospect of the order of things being changed around a little bit. Hawkeye/OC because there aren't enough in the world. I suck at summaries. T for language.
1. Menace

**Author's note****  
**

**This is my first ****ever**** fanfic! I love reading Hawkeye/OC fanfics and there just aren't enough in the world so instead of moaning about it, I just went ahead and started my own :) ****  
**

**I totally own Marvel. Well.. Ok. I don't own Marvel. But in my head I do?**

* * *

whhhhh-THUNK

Perfect.

whhhhh-THUNK

The second arrow sailed through the air at a startling speed, splitting the first arrow straight down the middle. The corner of Clint's mouth pulled up slightly, congratulating himself on his fine shot.

"BIRDY! Been looking everywhere for you mate." Tony Stark strode into the room, reaching over to the right to pick up a pistol from the weapons rack.

Frowning, Clint raised his weapon at the target "Clearly, you weren't looking very hard." he murmured back, concentration on the coloured circles in front of him, arrow pulled taut on the string, power building behind his eyes.

BANG

whhhhh-THUNK

"Shit, Stark," Clint lowered his bow and peered at his target. He'd missed the bullseye by just a few millimetres. But that was enough. "Bit of warning might be nice before you go blasting a gun next to my ear."

"Ha, sorry mate. Don't get distracted now." Tony chuckled under his breath, touching a button to bring the dummy target closer to examine the damage he'd done. "Perfect, naturally." He glanced over at Clint "So where's Star Spangled Banner? Mr. Green?" The machine took the dummy back to the end of the shooting range and he lifted the pistol in front of him.

whhhhh-THUNK

Clint let out the breath he'd been holding as the arrow reached its destination. Perfect bullseye. There, proof that he wasn't losing it.

BANG

"No idea. They're probably in bed like sane people. It is 4am." He hadn't realised the time. _How had it got that late?_ he thought to himself. He quietly placed his bow back on the stand next to where he stood, and looked up at Tony. "Speaking of which, I should probably be going."

He wasn't tired at all. He never was. He was always wired, always ready to leap into action at a split-seconds notice. The fact was that there was just never time for him to have to himself. Was it really too much to ask to spend some time on his own, away from Stark's sarky comments or Banner's curious observations. He just wanted to be alone. He worked better on his own. Or at least, he had worked better on his own. Until Natasha... _No. _Clint thought. _Don't do that to yourself Barton._

Tony looked over to where Clint was stood by the door "Alright Hawk, but Fury's prowling the corridors. Think there might be something going on tonight. It's about time if you ask me, these paws are just itching for some action." He rubbed his hands together, to illustrate his point. Clint just sighed at his teammate and made to leave for his room.

As if on cue, Fury's voice was suddenly everywhere, filling the room.

"_All members of The Avengers Initiative to the board room, immediately."_

"Oops!" Tony grinned and clapped his hands "What did I tell you? Bring it, I say. Better be some demon scientist or rogue robot. Or a demon rogue robot scientist..."

Clint just let Tony waffle on as they walked to the board room. He'd learnt to blur things out. You had to be able to do that to get any sort of peace and quiet here. Steve was already sat down, elbows resting on the table, chin cupped in one of his huge hands. He sat up when they entered, raising a hand in greeting; he looked tired and his eyes weren't fully awake yet.

_Lucky bugger was probably sleeping. _Clint thought._ Damn insomnia._

"Does that guy _sleep_ in here?" Tony whispered in Clint's ear, who chuckled as they took their seats.

Thor was next to drag his feet through the door. "Where's Fury? He was the one to call us here at the Gods-forsaken time." He sank into one of the armchairs around the horseshoe table, leaning his elbows up on the metal, sweeping his blonde hair off his sleepy face.

Eventually, Fury stalked in, promptly followed by Agent Coulson. Both of them looked rushed off their feet, eyes wide with an emotion resembling excitement. Clint couldn't decide whether seeing Fury this excited worried him or not; it wasn't like him. _Where's Banner_? _Not like him to be late..._

"Avengers," Fury's deep voice echoed across the room "At 01:00 hours we received a message from a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent based in London, England. Early yesterday evening they became aware of, and took in, a very powerful young person." His head turned to look at each of the men sat before him.

Clint shifted in his seat whilst Tony spoke up. "And you want us to take this dude out, right? A menace to society that requires urgent extermination. Awesome. Looks like a lad's night in London town people! Easy peasy." He grinned, twisting his body to slam his feet up onto the table in front of him.

Fury's stern, uncovered eye flickered towards the door behind them. "Not quite..."

Tony continued. "What, the street team just need back-up? Can't quite control the little bugger? Is he too big and sca-wy?" his voice high-pitched. Clint closed his eyes in exasperation.

"Stark..."

"Big, mean, nasty man..."

"STARK!" Fury boomed. His brow creased in anger, hands slamming down on the table. "Will you give it a rest for ONCE?"

"Yeah, yeah sure. Whatever Fury. But surely if they've already taken this guy in, they don't need all of us to go in and help them with him?" Tony shrugged.

"Ahem." A small cough that came from behind them made them all jump and swivel round in their seats.

In the doorway to the board room stood a small figure, with Banner close behind it. They inched forward into the light of the room.

"I don't know about big, mean and nasty... Menace to society though? I'll take that." A clear, soothing voice spoke.

"Oh, and I'm definitely not a "dude.""

* * *

**Wooooo! End of Chapter 1! Hope it wasn't too.. eugh.**

**Please, if you read it, review and let me know what you thought, and whether I should just give up entirely or carry on with it. I do have a general idea of where I want to take it despite the fact that I just decided to write this an hour ago and it's all fresh from my cranium.**

**yvaiine :)**


	2. Run

**Author's note**

**Thank you SO much for all the reviews, adding it to alerts/favourites and general love I'm getting from just one chapter! It was a lovely surprise to wake up to this morning! :D :D**

**This next chapter was a lot harder to write than chapter one! I wrote most of it at 3am and then spent today editing it so if it doesn't make sense, it's because I've had little to no sleep. A lot like Clint I guess.. haha! Even after spending the day on it, I'm still not feeling 100% about it.**

**I'll try to make chapter 3 more interesting. This one is mostly introductions. Also, I hate writing dialogue soooo that didn't bode well :)**

**Enjoy!**

**Oh, and I don't own Marvel.**

* * *

The silence was deafening; it was as if time was standing still.

After what felt like a lifetime, the woman stepped forward towards them, heels clicking on the floor. Clint leaned his body towards Tony, raising his eyebrows in amusement and cupping his hand over his mouth.

"How could you get it _so_ wrong Stark?" He whispered, shoulders shaking, struggling to stifle his laughter.

"Shut it, Birdy." He glared at his friend. Quickly recovering, he stood up, took her hand and turned on the charm. "Hey there! Tony Stark, Iron Man. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you Miss..."

"Winters. Elizabeth Winters. Charmed, I'm sure." She replied with her crisp English accent as she grimaced and firmly retracted her hand from his grasp. Clint watched her carefully as she regarded Tony, her eyes touched with disgust not quite reaching the rest of her face. It was moments like this that he was glad to be a master at reading people.

Coulson cleared his throat and spoke up for the first time. "Miss Winters will be spending some time with the team. She harnesses some, well... _skills_ that I think you will find very useful in time." A small smile played on Coulson's mouth.

Steve stood, moving around the table to stand in front of Elizabeth. He offered his hand in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you Ma'am, welcome aboard. I'm Steve Rogers." She smiled pleasantly at him with no trace of the disgust she had shown Tony.

She turned to Clint, who rose from his seat and extended a hand to her, a small smile at his lips. "Clint Barton. Nice to meet you, Miss Winters."

"Please," she replied, "Elizabeth is fine." She took his hand in hers, giving it a quick squeeze and gave him a polite nod.

Her hand was soft, delicate and very warm. Her face was sharp, with large dark brown eyes which seemed to burn into everything she looked at. There was something scary about her. Clint just couldn't pin-point what.

His train of thought was interrupted by Thor bounding across the table to engulf Elizabeth in a bear hug. "Thor, son of Odin. WELCOME, Elizabeth, daughter of Winter!"

"Thor!" Banner stepped out from behind Elizabeth "Put her down!" he laughed. Thor obliged, grinning widely at their latest visitor.

Slapping Thor on the shoulder, Clint glanced at Elizabeth, whose eyes were filled with fiery alarm at such a greeting. She patted her pencil skirt down and adjusted her shirt. He noticed for the first time that she was immaculately dressed. Her black skirt fell to just below her knees with not a crease in sight. Her crisp white shirt clung to every curve, and her long, wavy, dark brown hair fell around her waist. She did not look like she belonged in the middle of the action. Not at all. She looked like she belonged in an office.

Suddenly, her eyes flickered up to Clint's stare, catching him out. He quickly averted his gaze, silently cussing to himself. The corner of Elizabeth's mouth twitched upwards but the rest of her face remained serious.

Fury cleared his throat. "As of 10:00am this morning, training will recommence. This will include target practice, sparring, and individual skills training."

"Individual skills?" questioned Bruce. "Don't you think that's a bit...erm, dangerous... considering?"

Tony piped up "Yeah, think it's a bit early to introduce Lizzie to the other guy, don't you think?" He said, grinning at Bruce.

Elizabeth's head snapped towards Tony, her eyes narrowed. "Elizabeth, Stark. Dear me, looks like memory really does diminish with age."

With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving Tony with his eyebrows so high up his forehead that they almost merged with his curly hair.

Funny? Yes. Scary? Yes. Menace to society? Clint wasn't so sure. He was yet to see what made her so special.

* * *

10am came all too quickly.

Of course, Clint hadn't got a wink of sleep. He'd sat in the training room all night, taking the weapons apart and carefully cleaning them.

By the time the rest of the team traipsed in, he had stationed himself at his usual target, bow in hand. He turned to face the line of targets, listening to Steve hitting a punch bag. _He's angry today._ Clint thought to himself. The punch bag didn't stand a chance.

He raised the bow in his hands, taking careful aim and holding his breath.

whhhhh-THUNK

An arrow soared past his left ear, the air whipping at his hair. He quickly lowered his bow and brought his hands together to release the tension that had been building.

"Not bad for an office girl, hey?" A crisp, female voice came from behind him.

He turned, eyes filled with amazement. Had he heard right? "Wh-"

"Yes?" She interrupted, her eyebrow raised.

He quickly shook his head. "Nothing."

"No, go on. You were about to say something."

_But how did she know about the office thing?_

"Alright Team Stark, let's get this show on the road!"

Clint felt his eyes close as he sighed as his friend entered the room, slamming the door against the wall. He really did have the most perfect timing.

The first few hours passed without much drama. Clint kept close to his target, Steve concentrated on his punch bags, Bruce was sat on the bench, reading his book and Tony and Thor divided their time between sparring and drinking copious amounts of coffee. He hadn't seen Elizabeth since the morning

"Tell you what, Fury can't keep calling these early morning meetings. Some of us need our beauty sleep." Clint heard Tony's voice drift across the training room.

A quiet voice came from over his left shoulder. "Yeah, some of you do."

Clint's head snapped towards where the voice had come from and found his nose just inches from a pale, heart-shaped face.

"Looks like Stark could do with Rogers' 70 years of beauty sleep," she murmured under her breath, moving around Clint to cross over to the other side of the room to the area set aside for individual skills training. His eyes followed her as she left him, surprise spreading across his face.

_Who is this woman! She's bloody mental!_

Her head jerked in his direction, almost as if she had heard what he had been thinking.

_No way..._

"You got it, Robin Hood." Her voice carried across the room, causing the blood to slowly drain from Clint's already pale face.

_Looks like no one's thoughts are safe then. Great. Yeah, because this place had so much in the way of privacy up 'til now..._

All of a sudden, an eye-watering blast of heat came from the area where Elizabeth had been standing. In her place, a ball of violent flames.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Tony yelled, shielding his eyes from the blinding heat. Thor grabbed the water dispenser from the wall and emptied the contents over Elizabeth, extinguishing the flames from her body. The room was filled with smoky, steamy air and Clint's chest tightened, struggling for air.

As the smoke cleared, Clint looked on in astonishment to see that not a single hair on Elizabeth's head had been damaged. Her skin still had its usual pale glow and her clothes looked as though she'd just ironed them.

She parted her sodden hair and looked up through the curls at Thor with fury in her eyes. "What in God's name do you think you're doing, you great huge moron?"

"I'm sorry?" came the reply, confusion written across Thor's face. He'd just saved her life, hadn't he? Clint moved closer, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You just threw an entire container of water over me! What the hell were you thinking!"

"Elizabeth?" A quiet voice came from the punch bags.

She turned her head, water dripping around her. "What?" she replied, bluntly.

Steve stepped forward, glaring at the woman in front of him, his brow furrowed in anger. "There's something you've been keeping from us. And in an environment like this, you can't keep things like THIS," he gestured at her with his hands, "secret."

"No..." A groan from the other side of the room broke the tension that had quickly built up between the two Avengers. Clint watched Steve carefully as his eyes shot to where Bruce had been reading, alarm growing on his face.

Everyone turned in unison as Tony ran to Bruce's shuddering arm, closely followed by Steve and Clint.

"Shit! Shit, shit, shit. Bruce? Heeey buddy, look at me." Tony placed his hands on Bruce's face, forcing him to turn to look at him.

"I... can't..." Tears of frustration trailed down Bruce's face as he tried to fight the inevitable.

"What is going on here? Look, I'm sorry for scaring you all but I'm the one who has to deal with bursting into flames. So what if he's a little freaked out? How do you think I feel?" Elizabeth shrugged, and bent over to flip her hair over in front of her face, scrunching the curls.

Tony stepped back from Bruce and turned to look her in the face, his cheeks flushing red with anger. "Don't think you _quite_ get what's going on here, darling. You might want to start running..."

"Running? Why would I run from a scared little man? And don't call me-"

"ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!" A terrifying roar filled the room as Thor grabbed Clint and Steve by their waists and pulled them aside, before bringing an arm forward to block a large green arm from knocking Tony against the wall.

"You're not the only menace to society in this team _Lizzie_." Tony yelled angrily over the roars coming from Bruce.

Clint gave Tony a warning glance. "Stark, I wouldn't provoke-"

"ELIZABETH!" she screamed, and a flash of sweltering, white-hot heat exploded across the room.

_Great. _Clint thought. _A giant green Hulk and a walking, mind-reading fireball._

He had not had enough sleep for this.

* * *

**Ta-dah! I know it's a bit of a weird chapter, but I did the best I could :)**

**Thanks again for all of the reviews so far, but keep them coming! It fills my heart with joy every time I check my emails to see a new alert there :D**

**yvaiine :)**


	3. Control

**Author's note**

**First of all, OMG I'M SO SORRYYY! It's been so long! I'm a rubbish person, I know. Writer's block? Once again, huuuuge thanks to everyone for adding this to their favourites/alerts and your reviews! They're really helpful!**

**I'll try and update quicker next time! Hahaa :)**

**Don't own Marvel **

* * *

Dinner was a very quiet affair; the six Avengers were sat around the circular table in total silence. Clint twirled his fork in his hand, letting out a small sigh. Bruce raised his head, his eyes full of apologies for his small 'outburst' earlier.

"Erm... I'm really so-"

"Don't worry about it big guy, you shouldn't be the one apologising." Tony murmured, casting an icy glare at Elizabeth. She sat up a little straighter, turning her head downwards, suddenly extremely interested in a piece of pasta on her plate.

Clint sighed again, standing up to take his still full plate to the bin. _If she'd just apologise, then we could just get on with our lives. Why does she have to be so difficult? _He heard an angry intake of breath aimed at him and turned to face where it had come from.

"No, Elizabeth. Don't just delve into my brain and make me feel bad for thinking you're a bitch. Either you or Fury should have told us what was going on with you. You can't just go and flip like that without letting us know. Especially with Bruce around. Sorry buddy," he added, throwing a quick glance at his friend, who waved his hand in dismissal. He brought himself back to Elizabeth to find that she met his eyes.

"I didn't know that he hadn't told you. I thought..."

"HANG ON A SECOND," Tony boomed across the table. "She "delved into your brain"? You mean... Oh for fucks sake. Seriously?" He slammed his hands down onto the table. "Princess here can go all psychic on us?"

Elizabeth stood up quickly, making Bruce and Steve jump back in their seats, scared that she'd suddenly burst into flames again.

"Look, I didn't CHOOSE to be able to do this. Why the hell would I WANT all this crazy! I don't have a clue why Fury didn't brief you lot on me, but he didn't. That's not my problem. What IS my problem is _you_," she turned her head to Clint "and _you_," she threw at Tony "trying to make me feel bad about it. Well I've got news for you. Not going to happen." Clint's eyes widened in surprise at her outburst as she turned on her heels and made to walk out of the room. That was the most he'd heard her say since she arrived.

"You're good at that, aren't you?"

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks but didn't turn around to see the face behind the voice. She knew who it was. "Excuse me?"

"Good at running. You know, when things don't go your way." Clint walked back over to the table, leaning his hands on the smooth surface, his eyes narrowed as he watched Elizabeth's back tense up. "I mean, it was one of the first things you did last night when Tony said something you didn't like. When he did it again, you burst into flames. You just keep running don't you?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped, turning quickly, staring daggers at Clint.

Clint cocked his head to one side. "Then why don't you enlighten me? Come on. Let us know what happened to you that's so _terribly_ awful that makes you act like a spoilt brat every time you don't get what you wa-"

"I killed my father."

Bruce's eyes shot up to Elizabeth's, his forehead creased. "What?"

"I killed him. He... he was..." Clint saw the flickering of a flame in her eyes just before she turned her head away. "I'd appreciate it if we didn't have this conversation right now. I'm not feeling too... in control."

The corner of Bruce's mouth twitched upwards. "I know how you feel."

Elizabeth moved her head slightly to glance at Bruce with a small, sad smile on her face before looking over to Tony. "You're being awfully quiet Stark. Something you want to share?"

"Why don't you take a look and see for yourself?" He motioned at his forehead. "Make yourself at home!"

A flash of an evil grin touched Elizabeth's eyes and in that moment, Clint saw Natasha. The way the corners of her eyes wrinkled as she plotted and the way her plump, red lips pouted as she concentrated, her pale skin almost glowing against the dark hair that fell around her face.

The grin vanished from Elizabeth's face as she whipped her head round to Clint. "Who's Natasha?"

He snapped out of his daydream and shut his eyes. _Oops._

"Agent Romanoff is currently on a mission in South Africa." Steve's quiet voice answered for Clint. He knew how hard it had been for Clint to be without his partner for so long. It had been 7 months already with no sign of the mission coming to a close any time soon. _Must be tough for the man. His other half._ Steve thought to himself. He could relate.

Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't realised there was supposed to be someone else here, let alone anyone important to the team. "Your partner?" She aimed at Clint.

"Yes," he replied simply, opening his light blue eyes to look at Elizabeth's large brown ones. He was angry, she could feel it. He was absolutely furious.

The relationship between Clint and Natasha had always been comfortable. They were partners, best friends. The only person each of them could fully trust was each other. There had never been any romantic feelings there, though the other Avengers had always suspected that there had been. But no, Clint and Natasha were each other's halves. It was very strange to be without her for so long, but Clint had grown accustomed to it eventually. It made missions more difficult without her; Clint often called her the eyes in the back of his head. She always had his back.

Elizabeth saw this in Clint's mind and frowned, her eyebrows furrowed. How was it possible to depend so much on someone? To actually trust someone with everything? She'd never had that. Her father had been an awful man, her mother was weak. There was her sister... _No. _Elizabeth told herself. _Don't think of her now, you'll only make yourself-_

Clint watched as a tear gathered in the corner of one of Elizabeth's eyes and threatened to spill down her cheek.

"WELL THEN." Tony slammed his hands down onto the table. "Now that that's sorted, can we PLEASE get back to playing happy Avenger families? My food's getting cold."

Clint went to the table and slowly sank back into his chair, his back to Elizabeth. She stood and watched him as he picked up his fork and picked up a piece of pasta.

_How does he do that? How can he just switch like that?_ Elizabeth had seen the inside of Clint's mind. She'd seen what a gravely unhappy man he was. It amazed her that someone could control his feelings the way he did. And what did she do when she got angry or upset? Turn into a fireball.

She felt herself getting uncomfortably warm and clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. A hand on her shoulder made her jump.

"Don't," a soft voice murmured from barely open lips.

Elizabeth looked up into the kind eyes of Bruce, his face creased with worry.

"Just try to keep your mind clear. Come with me."

As Bruce led her from the kitchen, she took one last glance at the table behind her. It was as if Thor hadn't even noticed the conversation that had just taken place as he shovelled forkfuls of pasta into his mouth. Steve was nowhere to be seen; she guessed he must've gone down to the gym. Tony was reading a newspaper, glancing up every now and then at Clint. Clint. One elbow resting on the table, supporting his head in his hand, the other twisting his fork around.

_What is he thinking? _She wondered as she began to search through his mind. As soon as she entered his head, she was greeted with the image of a woman with dark red curls framing a beautiful pale face. _No._ She stopped herself from going any deeper.

She'd stolen too many of his thoughts today.


	4. Hide

**Author's note**

**YOU GUYS. Are amazing. That is all.**

**Not much Clint in this chapter. Thought you guys needed to know a bit more about Elizabeth and why she's the way she is! There will be more Clint in the next one!**

**I don't own Marvel. Surprise, surprise...**

* * *

"You know, they're not that bad once you get to know them." Bruce entered the door code that would let them into the lab, pushing open the door and stepping aside to let Elizabeth past.

Elizabeth strode through the door, hips swaying. "If you hadn't noticed, I can see inside people's minds. I know them even better than you do." She approached one of the work benches littered with papers, test tubes and wires.

"I mean really get to know them instead of achieving it through theft of thought. What your mind does is incredible; I've never seen anything like it. And when you change into that... Erm... nova-"

"Nova? What's that?" Elizabeth turned away from the test tube she had been looking at to face Bruce.

Bruce's eyes widened slightly as he adjusted his glasses. "A nova is cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a white dwarf star. It's caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of the star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion..."

"Alright Banner, I didn't ask for a full-on science lesson." She let a small smile creep across her lips as she looked at the flustered face of Bruce Banner. He knew what it was like to lose control. He knew what it was like to forget himself and then wake up later worrying about who he'd hurt. She looked back to the test tube and picked it up in her small fingers.

"I can try to help you." Bruce spoke softly, edging towards her slightly. "I know how hard it is to have no one understand. To have everyone think you're a monster. But Elizabeth, the only reason people will think that is if you give them a reason to."

Elizabeth shut her eyes tightly and took in a deep breath. "But I am a monster."

"I struggle to see how that's true. You're a human being with exceptional skills like nothing anyone has ever seen. You can see inside people's minds. You can burn, Elizabeth! That doesn't make you a monster, that makes you powerful." The pitch in Bruce's voice heightened as his excitement grew.

"You don't understand. You don't even know me. My father-"

"We've all done things we're not proud of, Elizabeth."

* * *

"_Ellie? ELLIE? ELLIE!"_

_Elizabeth clapped her hand over her mouth to stop a giggle escaping from her lips. She heard light footsteps outside her hiding place and held her breath. Suddenly, a burst of light flooded the wardrobe she had been hiding in and she smiled widely._

"_Oh no! You found me, Rosie. But you've still got to catch me!"_

_Rosie laughed in delight at this new twist in the game and ran after her big sister, grinning and laughing as they chased each other around the house. Eventually, Elizabeth slowed herself down, allowing her sister to catch her by the bottom of her shirt and collapsed to the floor. Rosie sat on Elizabeth's back, tickling the back of her neck with scrambling fingers._

"_No!" Elizabeth squealed. "No, no, Rosie that tickles! Stop it!"_

_Both girls breathless from laughing, they sat up and leaned against the bed next to them._

"_Again?" Rosie looked up to her sister's face, her eyes bright and happy._

"_Give me a minute you little terror," Elizabeth replied, putting a finger under Rosie's tiny chin and tickling her gently. Rosie giggled, trying to bat her sister's hand away. Elizabeth pulled her hand away, and looked at the round face of her younger sibling. Her dark brown curls bounced as she laughed, her usually pale cheeks were flushed pink. She was a beautiful little girl. Elizabeth smiled to herself, her heart bursting with love._

"_Right, time for you to hide!" She nudged Rosie's side. "I'll count to 60. 3, 2, 1, GO!"_

_Rosie scrambled to her feet, almost tripping herself up, and ran out of the door. Elizabeth let her head fall onto the bed behind her and shut her eyes as she began to count._

"_...49, 50, 51-"_

_A scream. A thud._

_Elizabeth's eyes snapped open as the floor shook slightly. She looked around her quickly to try to find the source of the noise. She left the bedroom and looked down the hall to see her parents' door slightly ajar so she crept up to it and put an eye up to the crack in the doorway. Breathing in a sharp gasp of air, Elizabeth practically pulled the door off its hinges as she ran into the room._

_There on the floor was the broken, lifeless body of her mother, her father standing over her, his eyes drunk and wild. He whipped round to face Elizabeth, who could see that he was holding a very sharp shard of a vase. It was coated in blood._

_She felt her fists clench and her vision clouded over in a red haze. Her body grew warmer and warmer until it began to feel uncomfortably hot. She stared at her father as she felt her hair whip around her face, as though a breeze was running through the house. The heat running through her body grew and grew in temperature. Elizabeth looked down at herself, ripping off her jacket in an attempt to cool herself down, letting out cries of pain as the heat threatened to knock her unconscious. It showed no sign of relenting._

_Her father's eyes widened in horror as Elizabeth suddenly burst into bright orange flames. He shielded his eyes with his arm, backing off as the heat burned his face. She edged forward, bright white eyes piercing and seeking. _

"_What the fuck!" Her father spluttered, dropping the shard of vase as he backed up to the wardrobe, placing his hand on the handle, ready to open it and hide inside. _

"_Ha, you can hide all you want. That door's wooden." An oddly soft voice left Elizabeth's lips._

_He slowly started to pull the door open._

"_Lizzie-"_

"_Don't call me Lizzie."_

_Elizabeth watched as her father flung the wardrobe door open and scrambled to get inside. She felt a sudden, overwhelming surge of power leave her outstretched hands as her father and the wardrobe were engulfed in flames._

_She closed her eyes, the power surge had tired her._

_Then she heard a small cry from inside the wardrobe._

_She looked over to the fire on the other side of the room and saw a small body lying on the wardrobe floor in the middle of the flames._

_Rosie._

* * *

"We've all done things we're not proud of, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth looked up at Bruce, his eyes full of understanding. No. No one could possibly understand what she'd done.

"Don't try to pretend like you know me, Banner," she spat. "Like you understand me. Because you have NO idea. And don't you DARE feel sorry for me."

She turned on her heels and walked quickly out of the lab, her head down and tears flowing down her cheeks.

She didn't see Clint until it was too late.

"Ooft, watch where you're going!" He saw the trails of tears on her pale face and her large brown eyes were tinted red from crying. "Are you ok?"

Elizabeth shot him a piercing glare.

"Woah. Sorry I asked." He raised his hands in defeat.

"Leave it, Barton," she spat, striding past him, down the corridor towards her room.

Clint watched as she practically ran down the corridor, her long hair flowing out behind her like dark, billowing flames.

_Thanks Fury._ He thought. _Another nutter._

Elizabeth reached her room and slammed the door behind her, locking it. She turned to look into the dark room, her suitcase still open on the messy bed and the curtains closed. Her eyes landed on the closed wardrobe doors. She walked across to the door and pulled the doors open, sank to the floor and crawled inside to sit in the comfortable, warm darkness. No one would find her here. Here, she was hidden.

* * *

**So, yeah! Elizabeth hasn't had a great life. So there IS reasoning behind the bitchiness!**

**ALSOOO, OH MY. This fic has had nearly 1500 hits! OMG :D thank you so much for taking the time to read this little brain bug I had haha.**

**As I said before, Clint will be appearing more in the next chapter, I just wanted to establish Elizabeth's back story and felt that Bruce would be the best person to help that come across.**

**Thank you again you lovely people!**

**yvaiine :)**


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